The Montana Republican Party has taken aim this year at incumbent state lawmakers it feels have strayed from the party line. At the top of its ouster list is one of the Legislature’s most powerful members: Rep. Llew Jones of Conrad. MTPR’s Austin Amestoy sat down with Montana PBS reporter Sam Wilson to learn more.
Austin Amestoy So I've been wanting to talk about Llew Jones since I first covered the Legislature five years ago. It was really clear to me back then that he wielded an immense amount of power in the statehouse, and it's even clearer now. So who is Llew Jones, Sam, and who's running against him in this primary race for Montana's Senate District 9?
Sam Wilson Yeah, Llew Jones has been serving in the Montana Legislature continuously since 2005, and he quickly made a reputation for himself as someone willing to work with anyone to accomplish his priorities, among which has been education funding and tax policy, and that reputation continues to this day.
"We have a war between those that want to make a difference and those that wanna make a statement, which is why I'll put the actual track record, the workhorse track record up against the show pony track record any day," Jones says.
Sam Wilson His opponent is Zach Wirth, who has made much less of an impression in his two House terms. Wirth is positioning himself as the real Republican to counter Jones' affinity for working across the aisle.
"He said, do you want to go to the Senate? And I says, no way in hell, but I will for this purpose. Because I think the people of Montana are going to be better off if we can replace and get some fresh blood," Wirth says.
Austin Amestoy So Sam, this has me wondering, why is the state Republican Party upset with Jones and some of his fellow GOP incumbents, especially given that Jones has been so productive as a Republican in the statehouse for so many years?
Sam Wilson This particular feud sort of started in 2007 when Jones and his caucus held a secretive meeting with then Democratic governor Brian Schweitzer to work on a budget behind the back of the rest of the Republican legislators. And that sort of has set up a pattern that, you know, for the next 20 years these more centrist Republicans sort of pulling the rug from under a conservative majority and then the conservative majority threatening revenge in the primaries.
Austin Amestoy On a somewhat related note, it sounds like the fight over the GOP's future has drawn tons of outside spending, in particular in this Jones race, right? What does that look like?
Sam Wilson It's truly jaw-dropping. We're talking millions of dollars of largely "dark money" getting pumped into these races. I heard an estimate that $5 million might be spent on these primaries by the time the dust has settled, and one million of that going to the race between Jones and Wirth. And that's just what has been reported. Robo-calls like this one started hitting voters last June, before campaign finance reporting was required for this election cycle.
Robo-call "Llew Jones is lying about the budget. Jones worked with Democrats to pass a record budget increase of more than $2 billion. Now he's trying to cover his tracks. Twisting the facts."
Austin Amestoy Wow, millions of dollars on statehouse primaries, that is definitely remarkable. But all of this has me wondering, Sam, why does it really even matter who wins the primary in Senate District 9 anyway?
Sam Wilson Well, because Llew Jones is an ideological leader of what he would like to call the independent Republicans, and getting rid of him would help clear the path for hardline conservatives to get their way in 2027.
This isn't the only race with these dynamics. Almost all of the Republican primaries in the state have some version of this divide playing out. And because most of the legislative seats in Montana are effectively decided in the primaries, these races could really make a difference in who's steering the bus next session.
Austin Amestoy Well, we will eagerly await the results come June 2nd, our primary election. Reporter Sam Wilson with Montana PBS. Sam, thanks for joining us.
Sam Wilson Yeah, appreciate it Austin, thanks.
You can watch Sam’s full story on the May 21, 2026 episode of Montana PBS Reports: IMPACT at 7 p.m. on Montana PBS and online soon after.
